China: Understanding Its Past

Glossary

249 acculturate: to take on behaviors of another culture as a result of contact with it. alum: a powdery substance that shrinks tissues and checks bleeding. Anti-Rightist Movement: a campaign led by Chinese Communist Party officials to punish many so-called rightists, mostly intellectuals, who had responded to the call during the Hundred Flowers Movement to criticize the party. Many who criticized were exiled or imprisoned. After 1978, most were “rehabilitated.” See also Rightist. aristocracy: a privileged hereditary upper class in society. Glossary A capitalists: according to Marx, those who own businesses and employ wage earners; those who promote or practice capitalism. In Communist China, to be called a capitalist was to be denounced. Changsha: the capital city of Hunan province, where Mao Zedong was born. Chinese Communist Party (CCP): a political party that has governed China since 1949. The CCP organized its first meeting in 1921. In 1949, led by Mao Zedong, the CCP was victorious in a civil war against the Guomindang. During the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, the CCP emphasized Marxist, Leninist, and Maoist thinking . Since the late 1970s it has allowed increasing capitalistic practices in the country. chinoiserie (pronounced sheen wah zah ree): an eighteenth-century European style of decoration in which supposedly Chinese motifs were used. circa: about; used to indicate approximate date. Sometimes abbreviated as ca. civil service: nonmilitary government work. civil war: a war between regions or political factions in the same country. class: a group of people who share a common economic situation. collective: a group of farms managed as a unit, in which farmers work cooperatively under government supervision. collectivization: the bringing together of farms into collectives. See collective. communes: See people’s communes. communism: an economic and social system in which classes are eliminated and the means of production are owned in common. (See “From Marxism to Marxism–Leninism to Maoism” in Chapter 3, Section 1.) compound: one or more buildings enclosed by a wall or fence. comprador: Chinese middleman who worked for foreign companies in China in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. concessions: special privileges. Certain areas in Shanghai where foreigners lived free of Chinese control were sometimes called concessions. B ballast: something added to make a load stable. benevolent despotism: rule by a fair or kindly despot (a ruler having absolute power). bourgeoisie: according to Marx, wealthy business owners who employ wage earners; wealthy capitalists. bureaucrat: a nonelected government official. C cadre: in Communist China, a civil servant or bureaucrat; someone who works for the government ; also, an enthusiastic activist dedicated to furthering the cause of the Chinese Communist Party. cangue (pronounced kang): a wooden framework or yoke enclosing the neck and hands of an offender. It weighed twenty or thirty pounds, and once it was in place wearers could not feed themselves or lie down. It was used as a punishment well into the twentieth century. capitalism: an economic system in which factories , land, and other means of production are privately owned by individuals and corporations. Market competition and the profit motive drive the economy. Capitalism can be better understood when it is compared with the ideas of communal ownership and socialism. 250 Confucius: China’s great philosopher and teacher, who lived from 551 B.C.E. to 479 B.C.E. Confucius articulated ideas that became the foundation of Chinese thinking about the family, state, and society. Confucianism: a system of principles and a code of ethics based on the teachings of Confucius. cultural clash: See cultural conflict. cultural conflict: Culture is the sum of ways of living built up by a group of people and passed on from one generation to the next. Culture includes values, attitudes, knowledge, ideas, and learned behavior, as well as material objects. When people from different cultures meet, they may misunderstand each other and come into conflict.. Cultural Revolution: See Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. ethnocentrism: the belief that one’s own ethnic group or culture is superior to others’. eunuch: a castrated man. Since the Zhou dynasty, eunuchs served the Chinese emperor by guarding and administering the imperial harem of wives and concubines. Uncastrated men who were not part of the emperor’s immediate family were not allowed the enter the inner palace. Because of their closeness to the emperor, eunuchs had unequaled opportunities to win his favor and attain powerful positions. extraterritoriality: the right of foreign citizens to be judged by the laws of their country of citizenship rather than the country in which they live...